A&E
by contagiouschemi
Summary: Why was she with Ben Dearborn when she could be with me? Skinny, geeky, weird, Ben Dearborn. Honestly, If I got the choice I would definitely pick the son of the "boy who lived". James II /OC


**Chapter One**

Okay, so I'm in love with this girl. No, she isn't my best friend, and yes, she knows I exist. We are friends but not the kind of friends who talk about anything and everything. We talk about our homework, how our house Quidditch teams are doing, those kinds of things. I suppose you're wondering why I'm sitting here telling you about it instead of doing something about it. Well, she has a boyfriend and he's the exact opposite of me: bookworm, lanky, selfless. Not that I'm selfish per se. I just miss things from time to time because I'm caught up in my own thoughts.

If I'm honest, my family's fame probably isn't a good help on the serious girlfriend front. Sure it's helpful if I want some feminine attention for a couple of hours. But all the girls who don't want me for my fame are probably scared off by it. I mean who honestly wants to be with someone who is hounded by the press constantly? Exactly.

You don't have a clue what I'm on about, do you?

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is James Sirius Potter, son of "The Boy Who Lived". Twenty-five years on and people still talk about my dad and my family. It's really quite weird because to me their just my dad and my family. There's nothing great about my dad. If I'm honest he's a bit geeky looking, but don't tell him I said that.

But back to my girl problems. This girl, Elia, is perfection to me. I would do anything for her. She's insanely off limits though, as her boyfriend is also one of my friends and I'm not the kind of person who steals another guy's girlfriend. It's not his fault that I came late to the party. I know I have to get over her, but I'm not sure that I want to. I also have no one to talk to about it all. There are people who say that they're always there to listen to my problems, like my parents and my best friend. But I don't really feel very comfortable telling them about it.

My best friend is a girl called Alex MacDonald. She's Scottish, blonde and a laugh. We've been friend since midway through first year when the seating plan in Transfiguration was mixed around. Alex is just like one of the guys. She can crack a sexual innuendo better than anyone I know and is almost as disgusting as the rest of us. I don't know why I don't like to talk to her about girls. I just don't.

I suppose I should take you back to the day that my infatuation started. I would probably shed some light on everything.

Or not.

I was sat in the usual compartment of the Hogwarts Express that my family and I sat in. when I say my family, I mean the older lot; the younger kids were all too giddy for us.

I was playing a game of exploding snap with Alex when the door slid open. It was Elia Kyu. Elia was of South Korean descent, so maybe it was the slight exotic background that immediately appealed to me. She was beautiful though. She had these wonderful lips and high cheek bones. She was on the short side, but I'd always preferred girls small. And anyway, from what I could see, her body was slamming, thanks to the lovely little hot pink dress she was wearing. I would have to thank the tumultuous British weather for deciding to be hot and sunny that day. She had the cutest smile that just made everyone smile with her. It wasn't that I'd never noticed her before. She was in my year after all; I'd just never really paid proper attention to her. But the moment she interrupted my snap game, I wanted to know everything about her.

She giggled embarrassedly when she realised everyone was looking at her, and Holy Merlin her giggle almost made my heart palpitate. Like the little girl I am.

"My boyfriend wasn't in here, was he?"

My heart sank. She had a boyfriend. FML.

"Who would that be?" My cousin, Fred, asked.

"Ben Dearborn."

That made it even worse. Ben was one of my friends, kinda. First off, how didn't I know he was with Elia? Secondly, how did he get a catch like her? He wasn't the best looking guy on the planet. Even I was better looking.

"Okay, I'll just, um, go then."

No one made and effort to prevent her leaving and I didn't particularly want to. Whilst she was beautiful, I had never to my recollection had a conversation with her.

And with that, she left and I began to fall hard for her.

Alex didn't think much of Elia, I wasn't too sure why though. Maybe it was just one of those things. She never actually outright said it, but I could just tell. When Elia left the compartment door, Alex seemed to unclench her teeth. That was the first sign of her dislike, but I'll go into that later.

I felt like running after Elia when she left, just to have a casual conversation with her but I was pretty sure that my whole family would cotton on to my sudden attraction.

I stared at the threads in my jeans. Looking at the odd grass stain that my mum had tried so hard to get out.

"James…" Alex began to ask, "You never told me what you got on your OWLs." She went on to state. I was well aware of this, I hated bragging.

Now I know I called Elia's boyfriend a geek early. I'm probably quite the hypocrite. I spend most of my time doing my homework if I'm being honest. There isn't really a day where I do study. But I'm no teacher's pet. I just do the work because I like being on top of things and I want to do well in life. What's the point of just coasting when I can do so much better by putting a little bit of effort in? I did work for my grades. I wasn't one of those people who just seemed to get good grades with no work at all. But I didn't do extra work either. I did only what was expected of me. Whereas Ben did too much extra work. I was suspicious as to how he managed to have time for a girlfriend.

"All Os," I mumbled In reply to Alex.

"What was that?"

"All Os," I repeated much clearer.

"Seriously?"

Was it really that unbelievable? Alex knew how hard I studied. What else did she expect?

"Yeah… what did you get?"

"A handful of As and Es and an O in transfiguration." Alex had a natural talent in Transfiguration, like to the point where she was trying to become and animagus.

"That's great!" I enthused and she blushed.

"Not as good as what you got though," she muttered,

"No, but I'm really anal when it comes to studying."

"I suppose," she returned her attention back to her muggle novel: Great Expectations by some dude called Charles Dickens… whoever the hell that was. I just had to laugh because of his last name; it was a very unfortunate surname.

"Alex…?" I wanted her attention back on me for some odd reason.

"What?"

"Um… I… Um… what's your book about?" A confused expression crossed Alex's face. It was probably because I stuttered. I never stutter.

"It's about a poor boy that falls in love with a rich girl and he comes into money and tries everything to get her but she's a cold bitch who keeps rejecting him."

"Sounds great." I commented sarcastically. I was more a fan of sci-fi novels myself.

"It's my favourite book."

I was being honest, it sounded like a chick flick. But each to their own.

I was going to have to sit and wait for Elia because I'm not the kind of guy who tries to break people up; I just sit and wait for it to fall apart. And don't say how are you sure it's going to happen? It will happen.

Alex and I were doing our homework in the common room on a relatively cold October's afternoon but I couldn't focus. My mind was completely on other things, which wasn't normal for me. I usually focussed whole heartedly on the task at hand but I couldn't that day. Alex seemed to notice.

"What's up James?" she questioned as she raised her head from her soon to be 30 inch Astronomy essay.

"I don't really know, I just can't focus..." I trailed off.

"I have the perfect cure: kitchens." She said with a huge smile on her face.

Alex was like me in that anything to do with food made her happy, she wasn't one of those girls who were obsessed with her weight, she wasn't skin and bones, but she wasn't chubby. She was what I would say the perfect weight. But she was just naturally like that no matter what crap she ate. And boy did she eat. There were days when she could eat any fully functioning male under the table.

"Only as long as you let me have all the chocolate cake."

"Awww, but James, you know that's my favourite."

"I don't care; I want cake of the chocolate variety."

Alex pouted but agreed as we left our books on the table, putting a charm on them to prevent someone tampering with them. When you have the family I do, you learnt to put it on everything. And I mean everything.

"How's your essay going?" I asked as we passed the Fat Lady.

"Eh, how's yours?"

"Well, as you could see, I couldn't focus so, rubbish."

"Is it just hunger, or is there something you want to talk about? I am your best friend; it's what I'm here for." Alex questioned.

"No, nothing's going on." I lied, "Just feeling a bit ADD today."

"You sure?"

"Completely."

I wasn't the kind of person to talk about feelings openly, even with Alex. I didn't like showing myself to be vulnerable. And I didn't like people knowing things about me that could ruin me. Sure, I knew Alex wouldn't say anything to anyone with something I trusted her with, but out of habit, I just kept everything to myself.

"Okay. Can I tell you something?" Her voice getting quieter.

"Of course."

"I think I like a guy who has a girlfriend."

"Oh?" It would appear we were in the same situation. Maybe I could talk to Alex about my problems.

"Yeah, it's um..." She came towards me and whispered in my ear, "Ben Dearborn."

Oh you are fucking kidding me. How ironic could you get? I wanted Elia, and my best friend wanted Elia's boyfriend. I mean really?

"But as I said, I'm not really sure." She clarified.

Why Ben Dearborn, why were girls so attracted to him? He was tall and skinny and a nerd. Where the heck was the appeal? I certainly couldn't see it. Put Ben Dearborn next to me who are you going to choose? I personally would choose myself, and I don't care that that makes me sound self-obsessed. I actually have structure to my torso, instead of just, you know, skin and bones.

I had to force myself not to think about Elia and just think about spending time with Alex. I didn't want her to feel like I was neglecting her.

"I didn't know that you were that close to him..." I trailed off. I had to figure out what was going through my best friend's head.

"I'm not, not really. I don't know, it's just whenever I see him I see him my heart suddenly starts beating faster. You know all that cliché shit. But it's not like he matters; he's with Elia and she's gorgeous. I don't even hold a candle to her."

What a great position to put me in Alex. Do I tell her to shut up or agree?

"Alex, shut up, you're gorgeous, any guy would be lucky to have you."

"You're just saying that."

"No, I'm not. But regardless, try and move on from Ben because it's not healthy to like someone already in a relationship and sit in the background waiting for your chance at them. Especially when you could be finding another guy, even more worthy of your time."

"James, you're the best." She said as she wrapped her arms around my middle.

"You're damn right."

I didn't dare to think about the way her boobs were pushed up against me. Or the way she smelled. She was my best friend; I wasn't supposed to think of her in that way.

Wow, my advice almost made me want to take it. Ha! That'll be the day. The day I listen to the rational part of my brain will be the day that there's a blue moon. Although that is highly possible in the wizard world. But let's not think about that.

"Right, food." Alex said her voice less vulnerable than before.

Somehow we'd managed to get to the painting of the fruit. How hadn't I noticed? I tickled the pear and entered the kitchens. Immediately the house elves attached themselves to us and no more was said on the subject of Ben or Elia, but we were both thinking of them.


End file.
